


i walk a lonely road

by fluffywonder



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Best Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 11:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18637039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffywonder/pseuds/fluffywonder
Summary: What family means to Clint and Nat—ENDGAME SPOILERS





	i walk a lonely road

**Author's Note:**

> ENDGAME SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE MOVIE

_“You were once Hawkeye, and you came for the Black Widow. You saved her, and you showed her how to be Natasha. Now... Natasha’s here to show you how to be Clint again.”_

——

She hasn’t felt afraid of him in years, not since he was sent to kill her - but she does now. Watching him slice open the fucker’s throat after promising mercy makes her heart skip-jump a beat, even though her face does not reflect it. And when he drives the point home, literally with the tip of his sword — she considers herself lucky to have trained in the art of not losing her lunch over a little guts and gore.

——

_ “I... played it wrong. Stark, Rogers... they’re all the family I have. This team is my family. You, Clint. You’re my family. Come home.” _

 

_ “My home’s gone. My family’s gone.” _

 

_ It aches a little that she wasn’t enough for him, but she gets it. He had more than just the team, it didn’t make her less. And when it comes right to it, the two of them are still the best team around - if only he would agree. “We found something. Maybe. Sort of.” _

——

Clint travels. Everywhere he can, brutally slicing up anyone doing any wrong, stubbornly ignoring that he is decimating the world’s population even further after Thanos. Thing is, shits like these don’t deserve to live.

_Who made you God?_ He can almost hear Laura’s voice in his ear. Sweet Laura, who’d forgiven him for running out on them during the ‘Civil War’. Who’d been blown away, turned into dust along with his children.

He should have told her he loved her, one more time.

He’s in Japan when his past catches up. He should have known she would.

——

_“You shouldn’t be here.”_

 

_“Neither should you.”_

 

_When she curls her hand into his stiff, leather glove covered one, he squeezes her fingers, just a tiny bit._

 

_It’s a promise. It’s hope that together, they can defeat anything._

——

“Let me go.”

“No.” He shakes his head stubbornly, still trying to clutch at her hand. “Please, no.”

The look she gives him is unbearably soft. “It’s okay.”

This is nothing like Budapest at all — and he’s not prepared when she throws herself out of his grasp, and lands with a dull thud, body broken and hair fanning out like the red sea.

——

_“For the last five years, I’ve been trying to do one thing — get to right here. That’s all it’s been about. To bring everybody back.”_

_Clint pauses, just staring down at her. She looks so young — like she did when he first brought her in._

_“Hey Nat?”_

 

_“Mm.”_

 

_“That ledger of yours — I think it’s pretty fucking clear now, at the end of all things.” He grins, and she returns it... before she flips him over and breaks into a run for the edge._

 

He tries — God knows he tries, with determination and arrows and strength, but he cannot keep her from falling this time.

——

He hugs his children — sweet Lila, who hasn’t put down her quiver, and Cooper, who’s getting too tall, while Nate runs circles around him. He hugs his children, and doesn’t mention that Aunty Nat is gone. He kisses Laura like he’s dying and she’s a breath of fresh air, and can’t say that two thirds of his heart are now missing. Laura and the kids — they were a third, and Phil had been a third, and Nat—

Laura looks at him so sympathetically that he thinks she understands anyway.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you!


End file.
